US IP Enforcement Coordinator Named To Lead Industry Group

In a common move for Washington officials who work to protect industry interests while in office, the first-ever United States intellectual property enforcement coordinator has been named to lead a large US software industry group that lobbied her office up until she left two weeks ago.

Victoria Espinel will take over as president and CEO of BSA, now called the Software Alliance (formerly Business Software Alliance), on 3 September. A central role of BSA is protection of industry IP.

Espinel has served as the first IP enforcement coordinator since December 2009. BSA said, “She previously served in the Bush Administration, first as Senior Counsel in the Office of the US Trade Representative and then as the first Assistant US Trade Representative for Intellectual Property and Innovation. Earlier in her career, Espinel was an attorney in private practice with Covington & Burling in London and Washington, DC, and Sidley Austin in New York.” 

The longtime leader of BSA, Robert Holleyman, departed in April 2013. He had served as president and CEO since 1990. See blog post here.

The BSA press release on Espinel is here.